Newbie Here - Any Fashion Advice Appreciated

Hey guys,

As I suggest I'm a first time poster having almost accidentally stumbling across Fashion Beans a few weeks ago. First of all, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce and talk a "little" about myself, I emphasise the word "little" because in reality I can talk for Britain. Anyway, like a fair percentage of the male population my name is Tom, I'm 23 years old and currently live in Nottinghamshire, although originally from West Yorkshire. Work in a city centre hotel at the moment, although this was primarily to subsidise myself whilst studying, and too, during my present application for the Army.

Another reason I'm here is to, at least hopefully, seek fashion advice/style/tips etc from your good selves. If I'm honest, whilst I've always had a strong interest in clothes, well, for as long as I can remember anyway, up until I've generally just gone for a t-shirt, polo shirt or shirt with a smart pair of jeans and shoes without really pondering 'what goes with what' etc. I suppose you could say I'm looking to branch out with my wardrobe and more than willing to embrace a combination of timeless and modern styles, accessorised when appropriate. I try to remain as open-minded as possible when it comes to fashion, the same going for colours too.

I do like my appearance to reflect my personality and my body shape/type, yes, I realise that probably sounds rather vain. I've always been very out-going and love been around and mixing with people socially, adopting an fun-loving, lively, optimistic and upbeat approach towards life, and owing to sports and fitness always being a significant mainstay of my life, without trying to sound too poncey my body shape/type would be described as athletic/muscular. I'm 6ft1 and around 13 stones.

Whether dressing just casually, for a night 'on the town' or for a more formal occasion I generally prefer to be as smartly dressed as possible, although, if this makes any sort of sense, without over-dressing or looking somewhat out of place. Any advice, tips, whatever, would be greatly appreciated and certainly wouldn't be wasted as I'm happy to things on board, so I look forward to chatting to you all in future .

The biggest piece of advice I could give to anyone starting out in taking a more focussed approach to the clothes that they wear would be if you don't feel comfortable, it will show and you won't look your best. You sound like a confident guy from what you say but if you don't feel like you can pull off a tweed blazer, cords and brown brogues (a hot look for this season, all the same), then don't do it.

Start with a capsule wardrobe of maybe 10 key classic pieces and work from that, addiing pieces here and there.. there are a couple of articles and forum posts knocking about the site that will help you out with this. Also check out the colour wheel pieces that have been put up. All great starting points.

Welcome to the forum!
Is there anything specific you need a hand with? If not I suggest you check out the articles on the main site; Matt's Men's Fashion Basics series in particular is a great resource for the convert.
Also, you sound terrifyingly attractive! But given that, most clothes should suit your body type - go for slimmer cuts to flatter your body without looking like a skinny T-shirted showoff!
But I'm going to get in there first and slip in the bit of advice that really divides the forum; no brown shoes with black trousers

Firstly, I would throw away any sort of inhibitions you have about being vain, or being seen as vain by other people. We sartorially inclined gentlemen what to look our best ever single moment of the day (or at least when we are in public) and that requires us to take great care in what we look like; every man that has an interest in clothes is vain, be proud of it, I am.

Of course, there is bad vain, checking yourself in every possible window or car mirror or puddle or any reflective surface is ridiculous but don't be afraid to check your appearance occasionally. In fact I regularly have to go into the toilet or stare in a mirror to comb my hair back into shape, my friends think it's silly but I know that it's necessary. Thankfully I haven't started doing it whilst walking down the street, I will always do it in private.

However! that said, was there any specific direction in which you wanted to take your style? was there an item or items that you had in mind?

OLLY - I absolutely agree, taking a more focused approach to the clothes one wears I suppose is exactly, in a nutshell, what I was trying to say but couldn't put it into that context. Yes, even if I say so myself, I'm as confident as they come which is actually one of the things I pride myself on. Although I do my best to steer well clear of heavy narcissism. Both yourself and RUBYBLUE recommend starting with a capsule wardrobe so of course I've been sure to take that into account.

Oh, and the tweed blazer, cords and brown brouges sounds like a good look. As I say, I'm looking to branch out with my wardrobe and are very open-minded to trying out new things when it comes to both outfits and individual pieces, so anymore suggestions are very welcome. I think it's important when it comes to fashion to open to fresh ideas and perhaps venturing out of one's 'boundaries'.

SAM - I was definitely sure to check out Matt's Men's Fashions Basics, and also the Style Icon pieces and I must say I found each and every article thoroughly interesting to read and have certainly picked up a lot of valuable insights and tips all of which will provide highly useful reference points when it comes to enhancing my wardrobe from now on. As for the "terrifyingly attractive" remark, well, I don't like to brag or anything, but, I get by... ha, ha!

Yes, I do more often not opt for slimmer cuts because then I feel I can flatter my physique without intentionally looking I've bought a size too small, which, let's be honest, always appears blindingly obvious. Oh, and I'll bare in mind the not wearing brown shoes with black trousers tip .

WILLIAM COLMAN - Don't you worry my friend, I harbour very, very few inhibitions when it comes to my vanity, because after all, 'if you've got it flaunt it!'. My female friends often tell me I'm incredibly vain, in a positive sense, however, because I believe that a person's appearance says a lot about themselves most notably in the confidence and self-esteem department. Because, for me, a well turned out appearance is paramount when one's confidence and self-esteem, and their appearance is demonstration of that. So that sort of vanity is wonderful. So I am indeed proud of my vanity in that sense.

As you point out, there is bad vain, but I assure you I'm totally not one of these pompous types who stop every five seconds to check themselves out. Although, like yourself, occasionally I will glance in a mirror to make sure everything is still 'as it should be'.

RUBYBLUE - I'm afraid I'm not sure how to post pictures, but from reading the Style Icon articles, the ones which really spoke to me were and I have to admit gazed admiringly at were, in no particular order - Ryan Gosling, David Beckham, Johannes Huebl, David Gandy, Douglas Booth, Tinie Tempah and Pharrell Williams.

Key words I picked up about each of the aforementioned in their respective articles would be:

With these five Style Icon's and Reinvention's I've tried to select those who I feel most represent the look and the style I'd like to achieve, and I too believe them to most befit my own body shape/physique.

With Tinie Tempah and Pharrell Williams, I know their respective look's aren't to everybody's taste, but personally I love their 'street cool' style.

I suppose we could also ask you what you actually already have in your wardrobe - you might find that you save yourself an awful lot of money just by changing the way you wear the clothes you already have. Any chance of a brief breakdown? we can of course then suggest other things you could invest in to make your wardrobe suitably fantastic.